Family Portrait
by kenden
Summary: And just recently when not much else could be done, her mother started to blame her dad for all of their problems. And then, he left.


My Family Portrait

**A\N hope you enjoy. The song Family Portrait (as mentioned in the story) is copyrighted to Pink.**

James was listening to _Family Portrait _by Pink on his sound system as he unpacked into his new room in his new house. He was quite excited about moving in; it was soo different from where he used to live. The neighbourhood, the surroundings and everything was different.

James went around, looking at the few pieces of furniture that was already there when he moved in. One of such furniture was a chest of drawers. He opened the first drawers: _empty_, and then he opened the next, also empty. There was one more drawer and he wasn't _planning_ to open it, but he did, and to his great surprise, he found a piece of parchment.

He excitedly picked it up and as he unfolded it, he saw that it was tear-stained. The song had ended, but it was set on repeat so it started again. He picked up the parchment and started to read:

_Mama, please stop crying,_

_I can't stand the sound,_

_Your pain is painful, _

_And it's tearing me down_

She looked up at her mother, sad and depressed. "Mama, please, stop crying." She begged. She had been doing this for the entire week. _This is soo exhausting_, thought the young girl, _sob, sob, and sob. _The cries continued.

_I hear glasses breaking,_

_As I sit up on my bed,_

_I told dad you didn't mean:_

_Those nasty things you said…_

Her dad, she missed her dad. Her mother, her father and she used to be the definition of the _perfect _wizardingfamily. She was the over-achieving, seemingly-perfect daughter, her naughty though completely "adorable" brother, her dad with the stable auror job, and well, her mom was a great cook, who loved her family, _perfect_. Or so they used to be... but then it all changed. And just recently when not much else could be done, her mother started to blame her dad for all of their problems. And then, he left.

_You fight over money,_

'_Bout me and my, brother,_

_And this I come home to,_

_This is my shelter…_

Before she would fight with her husband, but now she just fought with herself. Minerva was quite tired of it, but she had no choice… it wasn't just about her anymore, it involved her brother also, sometimes she wished he never existed, it would make _running away _so much simpler. But now, now that he was… existent, she couldn't just leave him.

_It ain't easy,_

_Growing up in the Great War,_

_Never know what love could be,_

_You see…_

The Great War… it wasn't exactly the "great" war; Minerva knew that there would be wars much greater. She knew, though she also guessed that she probably wouldn't be alive to face _that_. Samuel had agreed with her. She liked talking to Samuel, he was smart… he knew a lot, but he was also brave, and she knew that he would do anything for him.

_I don't want love to destroy me_

_Like it has my family…_

Her parents had "loved". But that didn't work out very well for them, why would it go well for her? _It wouldn't, _that is what she had convinced herself.

_Can we work it out…?_

_Can we be a family?_

_Promise I'll be better,_

_Mommy I'll do…anything_

She had tried; she had tried everything, everything within her reach to make everything the way it used to be… she already had exceedingly good marks at school. She had gotten nearly all Os during her OWLs (she was not as good at transfiguration); she was the class _topper _for potions _and _charms, including being the wonderful seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

She had then finally decided that it was because she wasn't _pretty _enough. And she most definitely… wasn't. There were girls in her year that would obsess more about their looks then about their studies, about their friends… about their _life_ even!

_Can we work it out…?_

_Can we be a family?_

_Promise I'll do better,_

_Daddy, please don't leave_

_Daddy please stop yelling, _

_I can't stand the sound,_

_Make mama stop crying,_

'_Cause I need you around_

Her dad had left quite a while ago, and she couldn't stop wishing he hadn't gone. She had tried to stop him, she really had… she had done much to stop him. She _had _done better; she had been a perfect daughter.

Before he had left though, he _wasn't _the perfect father. He would scold her all of the time, her and her brother, mostly about the strangest topics… Minerva decided that it was because he was under a lot of stress. She would never admit, not to anyone, that her father was a bad man. He wasn't, as a matter of fact, he just couldn't control the rage that Minerva's mother felt, and so he would also just shout back at her.

But, when he finally left, Minerva knew that she needed him. That she needed him to make her mother stop… needed him to "stabilise" her family.

_My mama, she loves you_

_No matter what she says it's true_

_I know that she hurts you_

_But remember I love you too_

But now, she knows that there is nothing she can do, it was finished, her family is a mess and it was over…

_I ran away today_

_Ran from the noise, ran away_

_Don't wanna go back to that place_

_But don't have no choice, no way_

She wanted this to be documented. Not because she was special, but because she wasn't. There were thousands of others whose families were being destroyed due to the war. Too many others were in the same situation as hers. She asked me, Samuel, to write this for her, but only after she left… which she has now done.

She told me she would never come back; she told me that she was going to go to the central city, the wizarding world near London. I truly hope she does well there; she had gone through a lot to get there. I wish I could've gone with her, not because I feel I need to get away from _my _family, but plainly because I will miss her…

~Samuel J. Cook

James was moved. He felt quite uncertain how to react to the piece of text he had just read. "Mommy! Daddy!" he then shouted. His parents ran into his room, quite startled. "What's wrong, honey?" asked Ginny slowly, she didn't want to startle him any further.

"This thing," James replied, and shoved the parchment in their direction, "read it." Harry took the paper and read it aloud.

A few days later, it was posted in the Daily Prophet, right on the second page and Minerva McGonagall almost cried when she read it. She truly did miss Samuel; she truly did miss him.


End file.
